


The Good Kind of Chaos [Art]

by PaopuNova



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Brother fic, Fairy AU, Magic AU, Other, Pratical Magic AU, Witch AU, art fic, fae, family fun with the fae, theyre dumb and i was encouraged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 23:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13821684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaopuNova/pseuds/PaopuNova
Summary: A group of witch brothers try to live comfortably in a town where the humans are superstitious and the fae are clingy. But these brothers aren't the brightest so it may take a few tries to escape a faery's mischievous teasing...A Brothers fic where Vanitas is the reluctant older brother and Sora, Roxas, and Ven are triplets. I just wanted to write a cute family fic, but i can't do anything without magic in it so shoot me.





	The Good Kind of Chaos [Art]

"I accidentally gave a name away to a faery."

Vanitas found himself staring down at his book of shadows on the exact recipe he needed, but his ability to comprehend a single word of it had suddenly escaped him. To the left of his workbench Roxas stood fidgeting, his hands clenched tightly to the hem of his old raincoat, his bottom lip caught in his teeth. Vanitas made a mental note to replace it soon. Where was he going to get the money, though? He already needed to replace the bells on the front door so the little heathen spirits from outside would _stay_  outside, and he needed to find the supplies  to re-enchant the mirrors that Ventus accidentally cracked last week. Oh, man, _and_ he needed to make new binding chalk and that was going to－ Wait.

“Say that to me one more time, Rox.” Vanitas pressed his fingers to his temples, trying to wrap his mind around Roxas’s news as their budget swam between his ears.

“I…” Roxas paled, the words croaking and dying on his tongue as Vanitas’s stare pierced through him. The infamous Beauchene stubbornness was nowhere to be seen in Roxas, who was so often its champion, particularly when it came to opposing Vanitas.

Now, he seemed unusually cowed.

“You’re telling me…” Vanitas held his hands out as if to brace himself from the wave of stupidity approaching. “You gave your name away to a faery?”

“W-” Roxas smiled, and Vanitas raised an eyebrow. Roxas only smiled when he was nervous, or caught in a lie. Vanitas didn’t think he’d be lying about this sort of thing. “Well, not exactly mine.”

Vanitas’s eyebrows pulled together.”Roxas. Where is Sora?”

That sweet, stupid smile trembled.

Great.

Vanitas closed the book of shadows and stood up from his workbench. Around him, the green house seemed to sigh as the flowers realized he was about to leave them, and so early in the day. It was summer break for them at LaFaye Manor, and though the Beauchene boys had never quite outgrown their childhood habits of playing outside from dawn until dusk, they could have at least _pretended_ like they’d grown up with an iota of magical awareness considering what all congregated in the forest nearby. Vanitas had thought that he’d taught them at least that much.

Vanitas looked at his phone screen for the time before grabbing his coat. Uncle Leon would be arriving around sunset, and Vanitas figured that made them lucky. If their uncle showed up and found one of his nephews under the thrall of one of the local _s_ _idhe_ , he'd get an earful. Or worse, he’d say Vanitas couldn’t take care of the boys and press even harder than usual to have them taken away to the main family.

Vanitas couldn’t have that.

And, well, he was finally getting good at this parenting thing and it would be an awful waste of his skills at this point.

"Okay." He said, thinking. If Vanitas knew anything, if this faery was as predictable as the rest of the _s_ _ _idhe__ , then dusk would be their time limit either way. “ You didn’t give him our last name, did you?”

Roxas balked, his voice colored with offense as he followed behind. “I’m not __that__  dumb. But like, don’t all the faeries know who we are?”

“Doesn’t matter as long as you don’t __give__  it to them.” Vanitas scoffed as the two of them stepped down the rolling edge of the seaside cape. Their old manor sat overlooking both sea and city, the sound of the morning’s rain and the rolling waves crashing together, complimenting the thunderous look plastered on his face. “If we’re lucky, your brother will be quiet for once in his life and keep it that way.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sora waited at the edge of a small clearing, perched on a ruined tree stump. Overhead the clouds were caking up with eight layers of gray, and in front of him, glistening among the vivid green of the forest bed, was his family pendant. The faery’s first order of business after possessing Sora’s body was to immediately toss the iron crown necklace down, barely allowing Sora the time to register the pain of it burning a thick red welt around his throat. It had stung a bit, and he was thankful to not be hurting now, but the sight of his pendant on the ground filled him with a peculiar discomfort, a lack of identity; it had been on his throat for as long as he’d been old enough to stand and  grasp Vanitas’s hand on his own, and his brothers Roxas and Ventus, as well as Vanitas, wore their heirlooms with pride.

When he attempted to pick it up, he only managed to bend part of the way forward before an invisible anchor yanked at his shoulders and froze his arm in place.

 _Don’t even think about it._ A voice buzzed between his ears, and Sora’s eyes squeezed shut in concentration. _Give it up, human. Your brother gave me your name. That X on your hand means you’re mine now._

Sora growled a little before looking over at his hand, flexing it. An X crossed on the web between his thumb and first finger, a shimmering blue color like the beginnings of a new scar; a sign that the magic hadn’t quite sunk all the way in yet. If Sora had to guess, that was probably because the faery’d only gotten ahold of half of his name, but he knew if he didn’t escape the magic soon that faint silver scar would darken and become permanent. Sora didn’t see the point in all of this mean-spirited possession business, and he thought the mark was pretty tacky, too. He much preferred his family’s symbol to this.

He sighed through his nose. If the faery wanted to hang out with someone that badly, all it had to do was ask. That’s what all the other  _sidhe_  did. Some even sauntered right into Vanitas’s greenhouse as if their lives _weren’t_  endangered by the mere thought of disturbing his flowers, just to chat with the Beauchene heir. 

It occurred to Sora briefly that perhaps this faery wasn’t aware of who he was, or of their family legacy. Maybe he was a new faery, from out of town or something.

The sound of footsteps filtered through to him from behind, wet grass swishing as two sets of boots slid down the hill into the clearing. Again, the anchor on his body pulled at the controls that Sora had resolved to hand over without much fight, and the faery turned them around.

There was Roxas, huddled up in his red raincoat with his skateboard sticking out of his backpack, a mess of blond hair being tugged this way and that by the sea-wind. He looked just as upset as he’d been before, though now he looked decidedly less nervous with their big brother in tow. Sora unwittingly let out a small sigh of relief and wished Roxas wouldn’t look so guilty. It had been a mistake, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Sora’d already gotten over it.

Vanitas was, as usual, intense. Unlike the triplets, his hair was a shock of black on pale skin and his eyes were absurdly amber, no doubt a coloring he’d gotten from his real father. The triplets looked more like their shared mom than Vanitas did, though it only seemed to bother him when he thought the boys weren’t paying attention.  He was tall and older by eight years, which weighed not only in his body but in the aura he exuded that, Sora noted, was unusually mute for the moment.

Vanitas only reigned it in when he was seething, as if his temper was a weapon all its own. One time Sora had accidentally kicked his soccer ball into one of Vanitas’s prized orchids, and the ensuing wave of fury had Sora, and the other brothers nearby, tasting copper and soap on their tongues for three days. Their clothes had faded out to white, and it had given them all such a fright that they’d avoided Vanitas for two weeks whenever they could. 

He’d never say it out-loud, but Vanitas had probably been hurt more by his actions than they had been. He hadn’t hurt them, not really, but that didn’t stop him from apologizing more than once. One morning they’d come down to find skyscraper-high pancakes, herbal, sweet, and homemade, laid out along the dinner table like some feast for kings. Clearly, all had been forgiven at the sight of the golden-drizzled mountains of flapjacks, and Sora hadn’t seen Vanitas lash out like that since. Instead, he saw his older brother shut down every time he had a feeling above Medium Spicy™.

This…

This was Very Hot™.

Vanitas’s eyes swept over Sora, settling on the X on Sora’s hand, and his frown deepened.

The faery must have recognized Roxas, because it cocked Sora’s hip and stood a little smugly with no intention of pretending to be someone it wasn’t. Vanitas didn’t say anything, stopping to pick up the pendant that had been so callously abandoned. Behind him, Roxas set his feet and his frown into a hard, immovable stance.

“Didn’t learn your lesson about the Fair Folk the first time, mortal? That’s fine. If you want you can give me your name, too. Or are you gonna hide behind all of your kin?” The faery teased with Sora’s voice, and he hated it. Roxas flinched, but the cowed look was swiftly burned out by a familiar fire. Roxas’s mouth flew open, and Sora’s stomach dropped as he realized with certainty that Roxas was about to say things he would surely regret.

Thankfully thought Vanitas was prepared and tossed a hand out to cover Roxas’s mouth, squelching out whatever venom Roxas was ready to spit. Vanitas glared him down before turning back to Sora, sporting one of the shallowest smiles he’d ever seen. “I’m sorry for the trouble these two probably caused you, but I really can’t have you possessing my brother.”

“I guess that’s too bad. He’s mine now,” The faery stuck out its tongue, or Sora’s, and Vanitas’s smile twitched.

“There’s no way to convince you to let him go?” Vanitas pressed, trying to smother out all of his irritation as he came a little closer. Sora’s gaze flew to his hands, where Vanitas was looping Sora’s necklace around a couple of his metal rings. Vanitas put his hands in his coat pockets as he realized where the faery’s attention had gone, and when the faery didn’t respond to him he continued his words slowly and methodically. “I mean, it’s really impressive. You managed to possess _and_ shut up my chatty little brother. I’m surprised you got a word in edgewise.”

Sora felt the faery puff up, reacting to the praise with no small amount of ego. “It’s not so hard. You humans are really easy to trick. Now I’ve got a new playmate, so I don’t want to let him go.”

“I bet I’m a better playmate than these two idiots. ” Vanitas hinted, and Sora wanted to smile. “Isn’t there some way I can try to … _win_ my brother back?”

Faeries by nature were mischievous and vain. If Vanitas was going to win Sora back it would have to be by playing by the faery’s own rules. If he wasn’t careful, though, the faery could end up walking away from this with _two_ Beauchene idiots instead of one.

Already the faery was rising to the bait; it seemed the idea of owning two humans, especially an adult, seemed to be too tempting a meal to pass up. Sora didn’t know how the faery could look at Vanitas and think he was any kind of easy prey, but somehow the faery’s guard was down. He _definitely_  didn’t know who they were, then. “Hmm… I’m not in the mood to play games. I kind of like this body… buuuuuuut if you’ve got something to trade for it, I may consider letting him go.”

This seemed to be what Vanitas was after anyway, nodding a little as his smile smoothed out and became something more familiar, more confident. “What would you like?”

The faery seemed to think about it, taking its time leaning back onto the stump. It wasn’t going to make it easy on Vanitas.

“I want a sea song.” The smile on Sora's face felt devilish, and entirely not his own.  

Vanitas’s smile fell. “A what?”

“You heard me. Specifically, I want the ocean to sing me a song.”

“But that’s－” Roxas exclaimed, but bit back on his tongue. It was an impossible request, but if he said as much, he would really offend the faery and lose all chance of getting Sora back. So instead, he glanced up at Vanitas and fumed silently, noting the deep scowl on Vanitas’s face as he thought.

“Okay.”

Even the faery seemed surprised. He laughed and pulled up onto the stump, crossing his legs with a small wave. “This ought to be good. Have fun!”

Sora watched as Vanitas and Roxas turned away and managed to get control of his hands enough to fidget in front of him. His brothers gave him strained apologetic looks before disappearing over the crest of the hill once more.

_Are your brothers dumb or what? This is why humans shouldn’t play games with the forest._

Sora got a little nervous. They really could be dumb sometimes, infamously so. Mom had taught them how to avoid getting into dangerous situations with faeries, but not how to get out of them. Vanitas’s answer was to not talk to the spirits at all, but Sora had never been on the same page with his overbearing brother. In hindsight, maybe he should have listened more. Oh well.

He forced himself to shrug his shoulders and didn’t respond. For now, all he could do was just try to relax and enjoy their day off as best he could, hoping Vanitas knew what he was doing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanitas worried the inside of his cheek the moment they disappeared from Sora’s view, and Roxas’s nerves were palpable on the air, tasting of singed caramel. In time he’d learn how to hide it, but for now his worries were as plain to feel as they were to see. Roxas probably didn’t notice, but the spirits of the forest were watching from their peripherals, worried in turn.

He drew Roxas in, snaking his arm over his shoulders. “Don’t freak out. We’ll figure something out together. At the end of the day, I can force him to leave Sora alone. I don’t want to make enemies with the forest, or hurt Sora, but...”

“But… the sea can’t _sing_ ,” Roxas argued, thin blonde eyebrows drawn tightly together.

“ _Au contraire, mon frere _,”__ Roxas bared his teeth at Vanitas, who only laughed a little as they exited the forest and their steps finally found the main road, where up would take them home and down would lead them into town. He faced them towards the town. “She most certainly can. The problem is She’s not going to sing for you or me. We’re going to need Ventus’s dashing good looks.”

Roxas deadpanned. “But we have the same face.”

Vanitas reached over and pinched Roxas’s cheek, earning a squeak of protest. “Then having two of you will just make it easier.”

Unlike Sora and Roxas, who were boundlessly curious about the wild world to a hazardously hands-on fault, Ventus put his curiosity elsewhere, with his head shoved in books. He’d gotten a summer job, that was really no job at all with volunteer pay and volunteer hours, helping out at the library as an assistant. In a sleepy town like theirs, the job required so little work that Ventus spent more time organizing facts in his head than he did putting books on shelves, and he was just fine with that since he wasn’t being taught much at home.

It gave Vanitas an excuse to see the pretty librarian-in-training, so it wasn’t so hard for the oldest brother to overlook the clear signs of insubordination when Ven came home with books on magic and spells.

As usual, Namine radiated in the simplest way. She was a quiet girl, always had been even back when Vanitas sat in the desk behind her, and she tended to were muted colors that unintentionally made her stand out against the darkened corners of the library. Today she wore a little extra; a blue ring, that Vanitas noticed, was delightfully on her right hand.

She smiled at him when she saw him in an easy and gentle way that cut his soul. The looks shot at his family whenever they strolled into town, well, he had learned early to deal with by shutting down. The rumors, snide remarks, and sometimes the abject fear as mothers pulled their kids away... Vanitas could pointedly ignore. To the normal people of the town, he couldn’t blame their superstitions, especially when he knew they were mostly based on truth. But this look was impossible to guard from, and that somehow made it worse. Namine was one of the rare few people in town who’d never once been bothered by the rumors circulating around him and his infamous LaFaye Manor.

She waved a small little wave from her place at the circulation desk, dragging her hair forward to the front of her shoulder. “Here for your brother? I think he’s gotten lost in the astronomy section today.”

“I’ll see if I can’t bring him back down from space. Thanks, Namine.” He waved as he passed her. He wished he had more time to spend with her, but his brother came first. His brothers were  _always_  priority.

Roxas hung back at the desk while Vanitas navigated the rows of tomes. He ignored the ghost particularly attached to the section on french cooking, who without fail bothered for family recipes anytime he or Ven stepped foot in the building, and he glanced over the salamander who’d taken to window where Namine kept the rose succulents. He found Ven nearly suffocating beneath a fortress of books.

When Vanitas approached, pale blue eyes slid up to him before flickering right back down to his book.

“What are _you_  doing here?” Ven sounded a little miffed. He only found peace and quiet here －no solace at home－ and Vanitas had come to ruin it. “I thought you were working on a spell for Uncle Leon? Isn’t he flying in tonight?”

“I was, but we have a problem. Sora’s in trouble and I need you to help me out. If Uncle Leon gets here and sees Sora’s been possessed by a faery it won’t just be me getting an earful.” Vanitas dropped down onto his heels, now eye-level.

Ventus closed the book instantly, and Vanitas had his full and undivided attention. “Oh my gods.”

“Yeah. Put your books up; we’re going down to the ocean to see your friend.”

Ventus went rigid, throwing his shields up instantly. It seemed stupid, nervous smiles ran in the family. “What are you talking about. No one lives next to the ocean but us.”

Vanitas put his face in his hands, smiling wide. “Oh? You mean you __haven__ ’ _ _t__  been sneaking down to the shore to talk to that pretty mermaid?” Vanitas put a hand on his chest and gasped, “Color me _shocked _.__ Here I thought you were checking out all of those books so you could read to her, but I guess you’re just going down there to scream into the void? Very Nice. I didn’t start screaming at the ocean until I was in high school.”

Ventus went white as a sheet. “Oh… you knew about it, huh?”

Vanitas snorted. “Yeah, buddy. Wasn’t too hard to find out when half the forest wants to trade for my flowers. They tell me _aaaaaall_ sorts of stuff they think might interest me.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“Later. Right now we need to save Sora.”

Ventus put his face in his hands, defeated soundly and swiftly. “Okay, but what does she have to do with this?”

“The faery wants the ocean to sing him a song. And, well…”

Ventus gaped at him, finally catching on. “No. __No.__ ”

“We don’t have a choice Ven. I need you to convince her to let me take her to this faery and－”

“You want to _trade a mermaid for our brother _?”__  He hissed, and Vanitas smacked him lightly over the head. A few other patrons glared at them, worried expressions about the mad set of brothers sitting on the floor discussing mermaids and faeries.  

“No, idiot. I want her to sing for him.”

“That might be even _worse _.__ ” Ventus groaned.

“What? Why?”

The responding expression was one of pure suffering. One that told stories. “ _Aqua can’t sing_.”

[](https://ibb.co/dd7qnc)


End file.
